New website tracks the impact of federal transportation investment

With a new multiyear highway/transit authorization bill languishing in Congress, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has rolled out a new interactive website chock full of information about the job-creation impacts of federal transportation investment on the national and state economies.

The data, found at www.transportationcreatesjobs.org , show the number of American jobs that could be at risk if the House and Senate fail to take action on a long-term bill. It also provides statistics about the size and scope of each state’s transportation network, the current road and bridge investment needs, commuting patterns, and the impacts on other industries that depend on the nation’s transportation network.

The research was conducted by ARTBA Vice President of Policy & Senior Economist Alison Premo Black, an economics doctoral candidate at The George Washington University. Utilizing U.S. Census Bureau “County Business Patterns” data and the U.S. Commerce Department’s Regional Input?Output Modeling System (RIMS II), Black finds the transportation construction industry’s largest economic impact is in the state of California, where it generates or sustains more than 354,000 jobs. California’s followed by New York (286,449), Texas (276,276), Florida (196,087), Pennsylvania (148,669), Illinois (129,014), Georgia (106,658), Ohio (104,310), Washington (100,384) and New Jersey (97,036).

Black says money invested in transportation construction industry employment and purchases generates over $380 billion in U.S. economic activity—nearly 3% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). That’s larger than the annual GDP of 160 nations ranked by the International Monetary Fund, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia ($370 billion) and Kuwait ($111 billion).